Commemorative Banquet – 3

“If there’s anything you need, please call us anytime.”

The two maids who had brought me here, flanking me, simultaneously bowed their heads, then went to the edge of the banquet hall, clasped their hands in front of their lower abdomens, and stood at attention.

Left all alone, I looked around.

On one wall, a five-member orchestra was leisurely playing music with uniquely shaped instruments. Although the instruments looked unfamiliar, their sounds were similar to a piano or a violin.

‘That damn air conditioner is here too.’

No wonder it was much cooler inside than outside; beyond the banquet hall’s chandelier, I could see air conditioners diligently doing their job from the ceiling. Perhaps because the venue was so vast, there were as many as five units.

It wasn’t that I disliked the mere fact that such modern items existed. They certainly made things more comfortable. It was just that the sense of incongruity was so severe that I still hadn’t adapted.

In the center of the banquet hall, large tables were arranged in three rows. Their size was comparable to, or slightly larger than, the monstrously long tables found in the Knight Order’s underground dining hall.

The tables were laden with food. There were dishes like something resembling a whole roasted turkey, cakes stacked so high they were almost a person’s height, and incredibly thick fish.

An enormous spread of food, the kind one would typically imagine at a banquet or party, was laid out.

‘I feel like I’d be full just by tasting a bite or two of each kind.’

It’s certainly better to have an abundance of food than not enough. However, the amount of food laid out before me was so vast that I doubted if the five of us could even eat a tenth of it.

From what I’d observed, the Knight Commanders, with the exception of Rije, all tended to eat little, and even Rije wasn’t the type to intentionally eat a lot.

‘There’s even something like that.’

From a fountain placed in the very center of the table, a transparent liquid was gushing out. As I wondered what it was and approached it, a maid instantly appeared beside me.

“Would you like to try some?”

“Before that, what kind of alcohol is this-“

“Please wait a moment.”

Perhaps taking my words as acceptance rather than refusal, the maid swiftly picked up a glass with her white-gloved hand and turned the tap next to the fountain.

The transparent liquid inside gushed out, and once the glass was half full, she turned off the tap again and held it out to me.

“Here you go.”

“…….”

Having been made to personally sample it in a way I hadn’t expected at all, I accepted the glass with a blank expression. The maid bowed respectfully, then glided back to the wall and resumed her posture of attention.

I absently sipped the contents of the glass.

‘So it was fruit wine.’

As soon as I took a sip, the aroma of alcohol and fruit spread through my nasal cavity. I couldn’t tell what kind of fruit it was, but it was certainly fruit wine.

“Ta-da! Newbie! We’re here!”

Just as I had almost emptied my glass, the banquet hall doors burst open, and Rije entered. She was still wearing an outfit that left nowhere for my eyes to rest, with a chest that held a magical power to steal gazes.

Behind her, the Knight Commanders followed one after another. It was Erica, Iris, Claudia, and Aurora was the last.

“What were you doing?”

“What do you think we were doing?”

“How would I know that?”

Answered with a question, I stared at Rije with a dumbfounded expression. Rije calmly met my gaze, then walked over to the table and picked up a cookie.

Lick, her tongue, alluringly extended from between her lips, licked the cookie crumbs from her finger.

“You’ll find out everything later, won’t you?”

“That just makes me more uneasy. How am I going to find out?”

“Come on, come on! There’s no need to think complicated thoughts now that we’re here, is there? Let’s just let everything go and enjoy ourselves!”

Claudia, who had appeared out of nowhere, casually slung an arm around my shoulder. A strong scent of wine wafted from her.

“Then you could just explain what you were doing outside so I don’t have to think complicated thoughts, couldn’t you?”

“Oh, newbie. There are some things in this world that lose their fun if you know them beforehand.”

“No, seriously, what on earth did you do for even the Knight Commander-nim to be like this-“

“Just drink first! You can think about it after you drink!”

Claudia picked up a bottle from the table and popped the cork with just her thumb. I heard the distinct cheerful pop of the cork coming out.

‘She just popped the cork with her hand.’

I subtly distanced myself from Claudia, who had started chugging from the bottle she held in one hand. Right next to me, Erica and Iris were looking my way with peculiar eyes.

“You two aren’t going to tell me either, are you?”

“Regrettably, Newbie-ssi.”

“As Rije and Claudia said, you’ll find out later, so don’t worry. Just know that there’s no need to be impatient.”

‘What on earth did they conspire to do?’

At this point, I was slowly starting to want to find out what conversation they had, if only out of stubbornness.

However, Erica and Iris walked over to the other two with a gait that emphasized their hips, and only Aurora stood there with a triumphant smile, as if daring me to ask.

Her expression clearly showed her absolute refusal to tell me.

“Aren’t you going to ask me?”

After how long had we just been staring at each other, Aurora grumbled softly.

“You wouldn’t tell me anyway. There’s no need to waste my energy.”

“Still, there’s such a thing as etiquette, you know. Don’t you know it’s not polite to ask all the Knight Commanders but not me, the Lord-nim of this place?”

“As if that’s the case.”

Aurora covered her mouth with the fan in her hand and let out a soft laugh. Then, she approached me with a demure gait. Her black high heels clicked-clacked on the red-carpeted floor.

“Well, never mind that. So, what’s your impression?”

“Huh?”

“This dress, I mean. I put quite a bit of thought into choosing it. Inside this dress is a female body that countless men have used all sorts of tricks to try and ‘have’ just once, you know. I’ve even packaged it nicely and presented it right before your eyes, so shouldn’t you naturally offer at least one word of impression?”

“Seriously, would it kill you to choose your words more demurely?”

Aurora, who had come right up to my nose, lightly tapped my mouth with her fan. On the spot where it touched my lips, there was a faint lipstick mark, as if freshly imprinted.

It was the exact same color as Aurora’s lipstick.

“I’m a person far removed from demureness. How about you quickly tell me your impression?”

“Yes, yes. You’re beautiful. It suits you very well. Are you satisfied?”

“No sincerity, failed.”

Tap, this time the fan tapped my head.

“What happens if I fail?”

“You’ll have to be punished.”

Her eyelids, which enveloped her golden eyes, curved slightly. An eye-smile, drawing an elegant curve, appeared on her face.

“Enjoy yourself to your heart’s content here. That’s your punishment. If you don’t enjoy it properly, then I truly won’t let you off the hook, okay?”

After finishing her words, Aurora smiled sweetly and walked away with a deliberate stride that emphasized her hips, just like the other Knight Commanders. As soon as all the main figures of the banquet gathered, the orchestra’s music became even more cheerful.

A maid, dressed in a very rare form of attire by local standards, completely covered from head to toe with no skin exposed, approached holding a silver tray with glasses on it.

A pale purple liquid was gently bubbling inside the glasses. It seemed to be some kind of alcohol, but the specific type was unknown.

Aurora picked up a glass and stepped onto a slightly raised platform.

Iris, Rije, and Erica each took a glass as well. Claudia was already enthusiastically chugging from a bottle, so it didn’t apply to her. An empty glass bottle rolled around on the floor.

The maid also approached me and offered the silver tray. I took the last remaining glass. Aurora, who had been glancing my way, raised her arm once she confirmed that I too had joined.

“Alright, you’ll be too busy enjoying yourselves, so I won’t speak at length. You all suffered being under that shitty bastard, you suffered listening to that shitty bastard, and you all suffered preserving your purity under that shitty bastard.”

Pfft, I choked and coughed at Aurora’s sudden outburst. What the hell is that crazy person saying?

Judging by her grinning at me, it was definitely intentional. She said those things on purpose to see how I’d react. Even the other Knight Commanders had similar looks, so there was no doubt.

“Today, we’ve gathered to celebrate that. You can enjoy yourselves as much as you’ve struggled so far, no, even more. So-“

Aurora emptied her glass in one gulp. She casually tossed the empty glass aside, then met our eyes one by one, grinning broadly.

“-Have fun. It’s a Lord-nim’s order.”

The banquet continued for quite a long time. At some point, the sound of the orchestra’s music was no longer audible. When I looked around with hazy eyes, the surroundings were already empty.

During that time, we truly drank an enormous amount of alcohol. Aurora, surprisingly, had an incredibly high alcohol tolerance, and the Knight Commanders were the same.

Claudia, in particular, was on a level that was truly inhuman. Later, she even picked up an entire wine barrel and drank directly from it. A thing that weighed 50kg on its own, and nearly 300kg when filled with alcohol.

‘……Wow. I’m gonna die, seriously.’

I was the same.

With not only the Knight Commanders but even Aurora laughing and chatting, there was no way I could just sip moderately or refuse the alcohol they gave me, claiming I was controlling my intake.

Anyway, even if I had refused, I would have been caught by Claudia and Rije and ended up drinking it anyway. There’s no way those two would just stand by and watch me back down alone.

Because of these circumstances, I drank so much that I couldn’t even remember what glass I was on.

‘It’s a relief I don’t feel like throwing up.’

Almost completely drunk, I sat slumped in a chair in a corner of the banquet hall.

The world was spinning. Even sitting still, the unique aroma of fruit wine kept flowing back into my nasal cavity and mouth, and it was hard to control my limbs properly. All I could do was try not to fall off the chair.

My mood kept floating, making it hard to control my actions. My body kept reacting even to physical contact that I would normally have brushed off.

That was also why I was deliberately sitting tucked away in a corner. This was truly the minimum amount of reason I had left. If Rije were to even tempt me now, I felt like I’d just pounce on her.

“Newbie, what are you doing?”

‘Is this for real?’

A familiar voice was heard. It was Rije. Why on earth did she appear the moment I thought I wouldn’t be able to resist if she were to tempt me?

“……Just, resting a bit. I drank too much.”

“Hmm, really?”

Rije brought a chair from nearby and plopped down right beside me. The sweet alcoholic scent unique to fruit wine wafted, and Rije’s own scent mingled within it.

Whether it was because of the alcohol or not, every single one of my body’s senses was heightened.

“How drunk are you?”

“……A little, a lot?”

“Hmph, I see…….”

Rije’s words trailed off. I had a bad feeling about this.

“Newbie.”

“……Why?”

“You said you were curious why we came in late from outside, didn’t you?”

“……I did. So?”

“I told you then that you’d find out later, didn’t I? Do you remember that too?”

Nod, I nodded my head. As soon as that happened, a shadow fell over my head. Wondering what it was, I lifted my head. The Knight Commanders and Aurora were standing around me.

They didn’t look drunk at all. They were clearly reeking of alcohol, but unlike me, they looked no different from when the banquet began.

Rije grinned.

“Now is that ‘later’.”